


How To Train Your Winter Spirit

by WrC



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, Bad Parenting, Bullying, Comfort, Explicit Language, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Bashing, Loss of Parent(s), Love, M/M, Mild Smut, Running Away, frigflipping snowsculptures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2015-10-03
Packaged: 2018-03-22 06:07:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3718006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrC/pseuds/WrC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup, a scrawny, bullied teen with a love of the Occult and a cat named Toothless, is about to meet someone that will flip his world upside down. Not everyone is equally happy about that, however...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How To Survive School

**Author's Note:**

> Previously uploaded on my tumblr (see my profile for a link). But as AO3 is awesome, I can do naught but upload it here as well. The ending will be more elaborate than the tumblr version AND I will add the promised alternative ending :D I know the chapters are quite short, I think this is what I'd call 'tumblr sized' XD Anyway, stay tuned and enjoy! 
> 
> (Also why am I so happy about this alternate ending? It will be dark and angsty as F*ck I'll tell ya that)  
> (Second also: Kudo's and comments are very, very awesome and shall not fail to make my day :D)

It’s easy, really. You just have to follow two simple rules: keep your mouth shut and don’t stand out. These rules are particularly crucial if you have weird features, like being called Hiccup. Seriously, what were my parents thinking? And being small, thin, short a limb etc. doesn’t really help either. To top it all off, I day-dream most of the time, draw all day and I love legends and the occult. And I’m not entirely sure of my sexuality either. I mean, I had a girlfriend once, but… I don’t know.

All in all, I am pretty much a one-person minority at school, which is like having a big bulls-eye painted on you for the bullies. A great motivation to stick to the two rules to prevent any unwanted attention.

 I wish I could follow my own advice though. I can’t help myself. Whenever someone speaks to me, I have a cynical or sarcastic reply instantly. I don’t even think much about it, I just say it. Though this may seem very funny, bullies are not known for their sense of humor. So yeah, they don’t like me much. Thankfully, I’m not important enough for hard-core bullying. There are worse uhm… ‘losers’ than me. Poor things.

During a particularly boring calculus lesson, I was scribbling in my notebook. Drawing a vampire was much more interesting than a natural logarithm. Somehow, the vampire ended up kissing a human. A male human at that. _Woops._ Right when I full well realized I’d drawn yaoi in my calculus notebook in a crowded classroom, the bell rang.

_Oh shit gotta cover this-_

Too late. A deep voice made a disgusted heaving sound beside me.

“What the fuck did you draw?! You drew guys kissing, faggot!” The voice belonged to Tyler, an A-rank dick.

Instead of just closing the book as quickly as I could and leaving the room, I started talking back. “Is it turning you on? Do you want to have it?”, I said. The look on his face made it clear that was a mistake.

“Fuck you!” He swiped my books from my table and stepped closer, pondering how he was going to punish me for my insolence. I was just able to hold back a ‘you would like that, wouldn’t you’. Thankfully, the teacher had noticed the bookswipe and was coming towards us. Tyler retreaded quickly, leaving me to pick up my stuff and get the hell out.

This was just the second period, however. For the rest of the day I endured not only the occasional hiccup noise, but also various gay slangs. Great. Now everyone’s sure I’m gay, even though I wouldn’t know. Could this day get any worse?

Of course it could. My tire was punctured and I had to walk home. And guess what? It started snowing. _What a day._

_***_

When I finally got home, I was greeted by some loud meows. My cat Toothless greeted me by winding between my legs, almost tripping me. Dad sometimes forgot to feed him before he left for work. Stoick – that’s my dad – worked evening- or nightshifts most of the time. With his ginormous build and red beard, he was a very intimidating bouncer.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll get you your food!” I put some on a saucer and scratched my buddy behind his ears. For a while I watched him eat. So content. So simple. Sometimes I wished I was a cat. In some old folklore witches turned themselves into cats, you know. 

I shivered and went upstairs to take a warm shower. I was absolutely freezing from my hike through the snow. My computer booted up while I shed my cold clothes and stepped under a scalding-hot shower.

Worst. Idea. Ever. Never, ever, step under a hot shower when you come out of the snow.  It burned like hell.

When I got back to my room, a drawing of Jakul Frosti stared at me with cold, blue eyes. “Damn you, Jack Frost!” I threw at my desktop. I put on a warm, oversized sweater and sweatpants as I rubbed my stump in an attempt to stop the tingling. “DAMN YOU JACK FROST!”

_Did someone just say my name? Someone just called out my name! Where? Where?!_

I fell back on my bed. “Would be awesome if you were real”, I mumbled to no-one in particular. Toothless sneaked in and jumped on my bed. “A real winter spirit”, I mused. “Wouldn’t that be something.” Suddenly, ice crystals formed on my window. Slowly, I reached out and touched the glass. It was shockingly cold. I felt skin stick slightly when I pulled my hand back. “What the hell…” I unlocked my window and…

A strong gust of wind opened the window and blew me in my face. I forced the window closed again. God that was cold. _Wait a second… is it… snowing inside?_

“I don’t look like that at all!”, a cheery voice exclaimed. Shocked, I spun around. A white haired teen stood in front of my computer, staring at the desktop background. He seemed my age or close enough to make no matter. His pants were brown and worn, his hoody sky blue. He didn’t wear shoes and in his hands was a long, curved staff.

“WHO ARE YOU?!”, I yelled.

That startled him just as much as he startled me. He stared at me with disbelief. “You can… see me?”

“Well ehm… yeah?”

“You can see me!”, the teen exclaimed. “YOU CAN SEE ME!” Somehow this weird dude seemed very happy about that fact.

“So uhm… why are you so happy about it? And what are you doing in my room ‘cause well, it’s my room and I don’t know you.” I fidgeted with the ropes of my hoodie.

“What do you mean, you don’t know me? You called my name! So I decided to come and take a look!” The blank look on my face must have made it very clear I failed to follow. “I’m Jack Frost!”

Now it was my turn to stare in disbelief. “You’re… a winter spirit? THE winter spirit? Jack Frost? Jakul Frosti?”

“Jup, the one and only!” The boy swung the staff over his shoulder and gave me a mischievous grin. “The spirit of winter and mischief, guardian of fun.” I was still staring at him. “I’m SO glad you can see me! It’s been a while since I could talk to a human!” The spirit boy practically bounced up and down, making gestures with his hands as he talked. “And someone of your age… is unusual. You’re what? 16?”

I frowned. “I’m seventeen”.

“So am I! Or rather I have been seventeen for the past 300 years, give or take”.

“How come no-one else sees you?”

“You have to believe in me to see me!” He was still smiling and bouncing, by the way.

We talked about legends and his history in particular for the rest of the night. Once I fully grasped the situation, I got just as excited as he was. He finally had someone his age to talk to and I got to hang out with a real spirit! He didn’t look like my desktop at all; only the blue eyes matched. This Jack Frost was quite handsome, with wild, white hair and a beautiful smile. And the tales he had to tell! Meeting him was like a dream come true.

When I heard to front door open I said he had to leave. My dad was home, so I couldn’t really talk to Jack anymore without my father getting suspicious from my endless monologues. “Will I see you again?”, I whispered.

“Of course you will!”, he chimed. He went out the window and waved at me one last time, before disappearing into the night.

_What a day._


	2. How To Chill With A Guardian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup is slowly starting to learn more about the awesome winter spirit. Also, he trows his leg at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a LOT of fun to write. I miss a left foot myself and I assure you it is in no way strange to snuggle the floor with your face. Or throw your leg at someone. I did that once.

The next few weeks were amazing, even though Tyler still gave me shit at school.  Him and his gang had taken an interest in me, but I knew that would get less and less over time. Also, there was a persistent rumour going around that I was totally gay. It was quite a buzz in the hallway for a day or two. People in my art class didn’t even comment though; they were nice people. If I were to paint a glorious, fabulous, nude, gay painting, they would comment on the great use of colours.

It was still an amazing week, because I now had Jack! He visited me every evening and we talked about all sorts of things. At first we talked about him, and his history, and his memories. He told me a bit about the Nightmare War and the other guardians, and we debated what other legends could be true. As far as legends were concerned, there were plenty that were way older and more legendary than the one of Jakul Frosti.

He also told me a bit about his past. How he only recently got his childhood memories back, how he didn’t know who he was, or what his purpose was. It must have been rough.

“I didn’t even remember them until roughly 300 years later.” Jack gave me a weak smile and sighed. “By then there wasn’t any family left anymore… What’s your family like anyway? What happened to your mother?”

It wasn’t easy for me to talk about my family. But Jack told me so much about himself; it was only fair I did the same.

“My mom died in a car accident three years ago. Same accident I lost my foot in.” I absentmindedly rubbed my stump. “We came back from a farm where I picked out Toothless, my cat. On our way there, we were rammed on the driver’s side by a pickup. I was told later that the driver had been drunk. That’s the main reason I never drink, even though everyone else does at parties. If I ever get invited to a party in the first place.” I gave him a weak smile. “I woke up in the hospital with my foot gone. The only thing I remember was a bright light and a scream.”

“I’m sorry”, Jack said. “I shouldn’t have asked.” Concern was written all over his face.

“Don’t be. it’s not your fault.”

We just sat silent for a while after that. Toothless, oblivious to the social mood in the chamber, got comfortable in my lap, purring contently. The 300-something-year old winter spirit had little experience in comforting sad one-legged teens. He couldn’t even do the ‘socializing with pet to avoid awkward situation’ strategy, for the pet in question was between my legs. And that’s not really a petting zone, now is it?

“My dad manages fine though. We kinda moved on, I guess.”

Jack looked over to my prosthetic leg, which was standing next to my bed. “Awesome design for your leg by the way! At least you do have that now, which is cool and all…” His voice trailed off and he looked at me hesitantly, afraid that he’d made it sound offensive or something. The comment didn’t bother me at all though.

“Thanks. I designed it myself.” It was dark blue, covered in white ice crystals.

“I Couldn’t have done it any better”, the white-haired boy said with a broad grin, relieved it was a safe topic. “You draw a lot?”

“Yeah. I also follow art classes every Wednesday after school. Wanna see my sketchbook?”

Jack said he’d love that, so I got up and searched my desk. _It should be here somewhere…_

“Is this it?” I heard Jack ask me. I looked over my shoulder and saw the winter spirit had found the ‘special’ sketchbook underneath my bed.

“NO”, I blurted out. “Wrong one!” My attempt to get close and snatch it from his hands failed miserably, partially due to a missing limb. While I snuggled the floor with my face, Jack flipped through the sketchbook. It was the one I practiced anatomy in. It was filled with naked or at best scarcely dressed men, mostly. Not the book I wanted to show him.

“Put it away Jack!” The guardian ignored me and continued flipping the pages with a broad grin on his face.

“You dirty boy!”

I threw my leg at him and he dropped the book. Taking evasive action, he started floating around the room, looking at me with the biggest, naughtiest grin I’d ever seen. When I got back to my bed, I saw the last picture he’d been looking at. It showed two emo-ish guys making out as if their very lives depended on it. _Great._

“This was so NOT the book I wanted to show you.” I say slightly miserable and very, very embarrassed. I closed it and hid in under my pillow. “This is only slightly embarrassing”. My face must have resembled a friggin tomato.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

The question caught me off guard. “Duhm… uhm… no. I had one, but not anymore, no. Why?”

“Just wondering”, Jack mused, floating in mid-air.

“I’m not sure I even like girls… you know, like that”, I told him sheepishly. He didn’t seem very surprised, considering the content of the sketchbook he’d just flipped through.

“You’re… what? Gay? Bisexual?”

I blushed. “I don’t know. I told you, I’m not sure”.

“Whatever floats your boat?” Jack still had that big, ominous grin. “Tell me. Am I sexy?”

If I could get any redder, I just did. The guardian simply laughed and I had the uncomfortable feeling he was making fun of me. To tell you the truth though, I _did_ find him very attractive. His cheerful blue eyes, beautiful smile, and slender body…

“Well? Am I?” Jack persisted.

“Yes. I think you are”, I muttered. That made the winter spirit blush a bit. Now we both resembled buoys.

“That so cute!”

My pillow hit him square in the face and he crashed to the floor. “Hey!”

“That’s what you get for teasing me”.

The white-haired boy climbed on the bed beside me. “You’re still cute though”.

“Funny spirit.”

Then the front door opened, signaling the end of our time for today. I opened the window to let Jack out. Before he left, he gave me a peck on my cheek. “See you tomorrow!”

Gingerly, I touched my face. His lips had been cool, but not quite cold.

 

***

 

It took me a long time before I could fall asleep again. Too many thoughts were whirring through my head. About my mother, about Jack’s past, and most of all, about that little kiss. What was up with that? _Does he… like me?_


	3. How To Fall Asleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup has a bad dream

Hanging out with a Guardian every night was taking its toll on me. Half the time, I went to sleep when my dad got home, leaving me with just four hours of shut-eye. The other half, I had to kick Jack out earlier because I was too tired to keep my eyes open. On a few occasions, I even fell asleep mid-story.

It was obvious I was tired as hell as Jack was telling another story. I just sat on my bed, listening and struggling to keep my eyes open. Of course Jack noticed, but I asked him to stay, determined to fight off the sleep a little longer.

 

 

_“Why couldn’t we take him right away moooom?” Little Hiccup asked._

_Because cats need to be a bit older before you can take them home, honey. Just be a little patient, we’ll pick him up in two weeks.”_

_“He was so cute mom!”_

_“Oh I don’t know. That nice Miss said he had an appetite for trouble. She called him the ‘unholy offspring of lightning and death itself’! Are you sure you want him?”_

_“Yes! He’s cute!”_

_“All right honey. But remember, two more weeks befo- AAAH!”_

_Tires screeched, metal groaned. The world was black, pierced by a high shriek._

 

“AAAAAH!” I jolted upright in my bed and a startled Jack fell on the floor.

“Hiccup? What’s wrong?!” Jack sounded very concerned.

I tried to calm my breathing. My heart was beating in my throat; my brow was damp with sweat.  “It was… a nightmare. Just a nightmare.”

“What about?” His concern was touching, but it was not something I _wanted_ to talk about. I’d been almost a year since I last had this nightmare. But there was something in his caring eyes that made me tell him all the same. I sat on the edge of my bed and rested my head on my hands. This nightmare had started after the accident and had plagued me non-stop for months. The incredible feeling of guilt had been crushing. After I had some help from a therapist, the nightmares got a bit less frequent, until they finally stopped. But now the bad dream had returned.

Tears streamed down my face. “I miss her, Jack.”

The white-haired teen sat beside me and gave me a hug. “It’s okay Hiccup. It’s okay.”

“It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t asked for a cat this wouldn’t have happened.”

I hugged him back and we sat like that for what seemed an eternity. It felt a bit surreal to have a winter spirit comforting me while I cried. All the while he mumbled it was fine, that it was just a bad dream. When the tears stopped, I held him a little longer still.

“You know, for a winter spirit you’re not that cold”, I mumbled into his shoulder. He giggled.

“I can control it a bit, from just a bit cool to ice cold.”

I let him go. “Thanks” I said a bit sheepishly. “Sorry about breaking down like that.”

“It’s okay, really.” He assured me. The guardian gently wiped a tear from my cheek. He grinned. “You’re still cute.”

We hadn’t talked about that kiss on my cheek or the fact that I’m not straight since that night. “Are you hitting on me?” I asked with slight disbelief.

“Maybe” He blushed a bit. “What if I am?”, he asked boldly. As a response, I kissed him. Not a peck on his cheek, but a kiss on his mouth. Jack was shocked at first - I guess he didn’t think I’d take him up on his cool-guy act. But then he kissed me back. He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer. Gingerly, our tongues touched and entered each other’s mouths. He felt cool, but not cold. His lips were soft and his touch gentle. I stroked his beautiful white hair, and after what seemed way too short, he broke off.

“I… don’t know what to say” The guardian of fun was honestly at a loss for words. Who would have guessed that was even possible.

“Then don’t say anything.” I lay down and pulled him with me, kissing him again. “I… I think I love you” I whispered. I wasn’t quite sure what I was feeling. This was something new. Not what I’d felt when I was with Astrid, that’s certain. The feeling I got when I looked at Jack was something I’d never felt before. The sheer size of that cliché was cringeworthy, but all clichés come from truth I suppose. My notebooks were full with scribbles and sketches of him. It confused me, but it also felt oh so good.

He replied with a simple ‘love you too’.

“Will you stay until morning? I don’t want to have another nightmare.” When Jack told me he wouldn’t leave, I cuddled up to him, laying my head on his soft sweater. Thankfully, the nightmare stayed away. And the next morning, my dear winter spirit was still right next to me.


	4. How To Get A Day Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing like a good 'ol snow-day to get a day off~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. Prostetics fart. It’s funny. Don’t judge me, OK xD Let me, like Jack, have my immature fun.

I would have liked nothing better than to just stay in bed, cuddle with Jack and sleep some more. My alarm-clock thoroughly disagreed. Jack groaned, rolled the other way and pulled his hood over his head. “I wish I didn’t have to go to school.”

I couldn’t call in sick again. I’d already done that too often the past few days. Both dad and the school would start asking questions, so I had no other choice but to get up. Reluctant, I washed my prosthetic at the sink in my room. It slid on with a _floomp._ Jack sniggered and said: “That sounded like a fart.”

“Haha. Very mature Jack.” I put on some jeans and a generic shirt. I wasn’t much of a fashion icon. “Are you going to lie in my bed the whole day?” Jack sat up and shrugged. “What DO you do on a regular day, actually?”

“Not much. Fly around a bit, make it snow here and there. Trip people. The usual.”

I shook my head. “You’re the spirit of mischief alright.”

Suddenly, Jack grinned broadly. “I know what I’m going to do today!”

“Oh lord. What is it?”

“Not telling you yet!” I gave him a puzzled look but he didn’t say anything else. He just hopped off the bed, got his staff, gave me a kiss on the cheek and left through the window.

_He is quite something_.

 

School was nothing special. Just as tedious as usual. I spent most of my time making sketches and doodles of Jack in my notebooks. During the second period, it had started to snow. During calculus in third, it was an all out snow storm and when the fourth period ended, an announcement was made.

“Due to heavy weather circumstances, the school will close for the rest of the day.” The entire classroom erupted in cheers. “School will commence again in two days.” I had a distinct feeling a certain winter spirit was responsible for this. I lingered a bit and made sure I was last to leave, so I would be alone at the lockers. When I dumped my books, Jack appeared beside me.

“So. No more school today,” he said cheerfully. He was grinning from ear to ear.

“I had a feeling that was your handiwork.” I look at him with disapproval. “Now my art class is cancelled!”

The grin faded a bit. “But you said you wished you didn’t have to go to school. So I made a blizzard!” Wednesday’s art class was the only fun class in my week… but this was kind of sweet of him. To think he made this blizzard just for me.

“I have to admit, this is pretty cool”. I gently kissed him on the lips. “Thank you.” He was beaming with pride.

 “JACK?!” A voice called out behind us. I spun around. Behind us stood a slender teen with a mop of brown hair and brown eyes.

“JAMIE?!” I’d only ever seen Jack this excited when I first met him. “You can still see me!” Jack exclaimed as he double-high-fived the boy. “I had no idea this was your highschool.”

“Well, you did never show up again! You could have stopped by to say hi, you know. If you had, you would’ve known I’m a freshman here.” Jamie scowled at him.

“Uhm… sorry to interrupt, but who are you and how can you see him?” I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around it.

“This is THE Jamie I told you about, the last believer during the Nightmare War”, Jack explained. “I had no idea you still believed in me, after all those years. I’m sorry for never visiting.” The spirit looked touched and guilt ridden at the same time.

“How could I forget you”, Jamie replied. “That’s kind of insulting. But you made up with a nice snow-day I suppose.” The brown-haired boy grinned. “And I saw you two… uhm…”

“Oh, I’m Hiccup by the way”, I said, avoiding an awkward silence.  

Jamie looked from me to Jack and back again. “Are you two, you know, a thing?”

I called out ‘no’ while at the same time Jack replied with a firm ‘yes’. He looked at me slightly hurt and my face turned bright red. “Yes, I suppose, yes, you could say that”, I hastily added, waving my hands around awkwardly. Jamie held back a laugh.

 

After picking a day to hang out with Jamie, we all went our own ways. The fresh snow crunched under my shoes. I shivered. Meanwhile, Jack was floating about happily, enjoying a job well done. When we passed a particularly big pile of snowdrift, he got an idea.

“Hiccup! Let’s build a snowman!”

“Now? It’s already dark.”

“So? Come on, it’ll be fun!” He already put his staff aside and started pushing snow around. _He looks as happy as any five-year-old in the snow_. What else could I do but join him? We worked for what must have been at least two hours, but the result was something to be proud of. The mighty snow-creature consisted of four stacked balls and stood nearly 3 meters high.

“That’s pretty amazing”, I puffed.

“I told you it would be fun!” The winter spirit exclaimed as he put two stones in its face. When he was done, he put an arm around me as we admired our work. I started shivering again. “Can we go home now? I’m freezing.”

“Maybe this will warm you up”. The guardian stroked my cheek with his thumb and he gently placed his lips on mine. He was cool, but surprisingly warm compared to the freezing cold outside. I kissed him back and our tongues touched. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer. _God I love him._ I quickly broke away when I heard a car coming around the corner. Kissing the air would seem pretty weird to any passer-by.

“That helped a bit”, I admitted as I was no longer shivering that bad. “But I’m still cold”.

The white-haired boy looked at me with a content smile. “Of course, you need some hot chocolate!” He hugged me again and gave me another peck.

 

When we finally got home, a pleasant heat washed over me. “Finally home!”

“Oh don’t be such a wuss.”

“I’m not a wuss! I can’t feel my foot!”

“That’s because you don’t _have_ a foot!”

I laughed. “Almost forgot about that. Now where’s my hot chocolate?”

A deep voice came from the living room. “Welcome home son! Who are you talking to?”

“Oh ehm… hi dad! Just ehm… talking to myself.”

Stoick appeared in the doorway. “Where have you been? It’s late. Have you already eaten?”

I’d totally forgotten that my dad would also be home tonight. With snow this heavy, no bar or club would be open. “No, not yet.”

“There’s some in the fridge. You can heat it up.”

As I ate my late dinner, Stoick sat at the table with me. We talked a bit about school and my day. Somehow every conversation with my father felt a bit awkward. That wasn’t really my dad’s fault. He truly cared for me, he did. He even made me some hot chocolate after dinner. But we never really knew what to say to each other, so it wasn’t suspicious when I quickly retreated into my room after dinner. Jack, who’d been floating about the kitchen the whole time, sat on my bed. He looked sad.

“What’s wrong?” I asked and I sat down with him.

“It’s just…” He looked up at me. “I’ve never really had a home. A place.” I put my arm around his waist and planted my head on his shoulder, feeling the soft fabric of his hoodie on my cheek.

“You do now”.

As you can imagine, he was all smiles after that.


	5. How To Enjoy A Snow Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because Hiccup got a extra day off due to some snow *glares accusingly at Jack* it’s time to have some fun!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry about the snowman thing

Children were playing everywhere, building snowmen, riding sleighs, and having epic snow-ball battles. Meanwhile, I was sitting on my bed with my sketchbook, looking out the window from time to time. Jack was beside me.

“Hey, Hiccup. Do you wanna build a snowman?”

“We built one yesterday.”

“It doesn’t have to be a snowman…”

“It’s too cold.” The spirit fell silent for a little while.

“Pleaaaaaaaase?”

“I’m too old for snow battles.”

“You’re  _never_  too old for snow battles! Come on, I’ll go easy on you!” I sighed. I knew he wouldn’t give up until we had thrown at least a hundred snow-balls at each other. Of course I could argue for a while longer, but we both knew I would have to give in eventually.

“Fine.”

It turned out to be pretty fun after all. All it took to start a fight was a single snowball from Jack. After that, all hell broke loose; the street became a warzone. All the kids in my street were throwing snowballs at each other while Jack randomly generated ammunition, unseen by everyone but me. I tried my best to dodge the kids, but there were a lot of them and being by far the eldest made me a collective target. Still, I managed to throw a few at Jack. I even hit him once, much to his surprise and my amusement. After a while I got too tired and went back inside, but Jack decided to keep going. “There are still plenty of other epic snowwars that I have to attend to”, he’d told me, all smiles and high spirits.

When I walked into the kitchen, Stoick was there waiting for me with hot chocolate. “Aren’t you a bit too old for snowfights like that?”, he asked, obviously amused.

“You’re never too old for a snowfight!” He sniggered as I sipped my hot coco. When I’d finally heated up enough, I went back to drawing. This time, however, I grabbed the sketchbook from under my bed to practice in. I was in that kind of mood.

When the last sunlight started to fade, Jack turned up at my window. I put the sketchbook away and let him in. He was super excited and told me about all the snowy fun he’d caused. Never before had I seen him so much in his element. This was what he lived for. When he had no more tales to tell, he sighed and fell on the bed.

“Today was amazing.”

“Yeah.” I had to admit, even I had a great time, despite my distaste for winter.

“Well, I guess I’ll be off again. It’s late and you’ll have dinner soon and-“

I cut him off. “You don’t have to.” He looked at me, surprised. “When I said you had a home now… I meant it. You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to. You’re always welcome here. This can be your home.” The white-haired teen looked at me with teary eyes.

“Thanks”, he muttered.

“Where did you go during the nights anyway?”

“Just wandering… going where it wasn’t night. I caused snowstorms, had fun with children, you know. I don’t really sleep.”

“Shame, because, well, I wouldn’t mind at all if you spent the nights here. With me. If you want.” I blushed a bit.  _That was totally smooth, Hiccup._ Had I just really invited this sweet winter spirit to sleep in my bed with me? “I mean I understand you have other places to go but-“

He cut me off with a finger on my lips. “I’d love to.” His lips replaced his finger, their soft touch on mine. I parted my lips and kissed him like I meant it. It felt so damn good. Jack gave a pleased moan and said: “You taste like chocolate.” I grinned and continued making out with him as a cold hand slid under my shirt. I yelped when he touched my stomach, much to Jack’s amusement. He sniggered as I squirmed under him.

“You made your hands colder on purpose!”, I accused him.

“Maaaaaybe”, he grinned. His hands warmed up a little and his thumb caressed my nipple, which turned hard immediately. More from cold than from being turned on, really, but let’s not dwell on such things. His finger trailed down again, across my chest and stomach, giving me goose bumps. When he reached my pants, he groped me through my jeans. I gasped.

“Wow, you’re exited”, he purred in my ear. My cheeks flushed a dark red. “How cuuuute.”

I pushed my leg up and rubbed against his crotch. “You’re just as boned as I am”, I said boldly.

“Let’s fix that.” He unbuttoned my pants and just as he slid them down, someone knocked on my door. Without waiting for a reply, the door flew open and my dad stepped in. He saw me on the bed with my pants a quarter down, my shirt slightly lifted and my boxers poorly concealing a boner. He turned around and closed the door just as fast as he’d opened it.

“Dinner’s ready”, he called through the door.

Dinner was even more awkward than usual. For some reason, my dad even thought it necessary to talk about this kind of thing, how it was normal and stuff. If he only knew what was  _really_  going on. He’d kill me or think me insane. Or both. I just told him I knew, and that I didn’t want to about it.

“What’s the use of knocking anyway if you come in right after.” He muttered an apology. “Look, let’s just forget this ever happened.” We finished our meal in silence and I fled to my room afterwards. Jack had left. I couldn’t expect him to wait on his own when I was having the most awkward dinner in the entire human history of awkward dining. Snowflake needed fun like a plant needs water. He was the guardian of fun after all.

Just as I grabbed my sketchbook (yes,  _that_  one) to continue working on a Jack look-alike in a highly suggestive pose, the spirit in question knocked on my window. I startled and dropped the book.

I opened the window and the white-haired teen smiled a big, goofy smile. He pointed. In the backyard stood a three by two meters big  _ice dragon_. The guy had made me a flippin ice sculpture! By Thors beard.

“Do you like it?” I was at a total loss for words. I friggin loved it! When I told him so, his face lit up like a Christmas tree in the desert at night. I pulled him inside and gave him a hug. “How did you know I love dragons so much?”

“Well…” The spirit gestured to my room. There were posters and drawings of dragons all over the place. OK, it was an obvious interest, but that didn’t make it any less awesome. I still couldn’t believe he’d made such a huge ice sculpture for me. For a long time, I just stared out of my window, admiring it. Jack hugged me from behind, nuzzling his face in my neck. His cool, soft lips brushed my skin. I wanted to kiss him, but I didn’t want to stop looking at the dragon either. A terrible dilemma.

“Shall we continue where we left off?”

“And have my dad walk in again? No thank you.” His hand slid under my shirt. He caressed my chest, but I stopped him. “I mean it. After the weekend we’ll have plenty of time and my dad will be gone. Be patient snowflake.” Jack made a face. “Oh are we pouting now, big baby boo?” The teen playfully pushed me away and we both ended up tumbling over. As we lay on the bed, I stared in his beautiful blue eyes.

“I love you. Don’t you ever disappear.”

“I love you too, stumpy.”

“Snowflake.”

“Dragon breath.”

“Icicle.”

We continued our name-calling for a while. The insults gradually became more and more creative and – let’s be honest – more farfetched. After ‘bigfoot-o-phile’ for him and ‘crazy-cat-dude’ for me, we called it a night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry about Stoick barging in


	6. How To Embarrass Your Boyfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack has some fun following Hiccup around for a day, much to the brunettes dismay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The one chapter with not-so-mild smut :3

“I’m going to follow you around all day! I want to see what a normal day of school looks like.” I went to the kitchen to make breakfast and Jack followed me, explaining his plan. “I’m going to stick with you and trip people in the hallway and mess up the scribbles on the blackboard. I might even do some funny stuff with the intercom. It’s awesome if you’re invisible, you can pull off all sorts of stunts!”

“Hell no Jack. You’re not going to follow me.” I gave him a stern look. “I would hate that.”

He gave me a sad face. “But…”

“No butts Jack. I need to focus at school. Having you float around pulling the teacher’s leg is not going to help.”

The spirit sighed. “You know, being a guardian is fun and all… but I do miss all the normal teen stuff. You know, the regular, human things. Hanging out with friends, gamig… Hell, I even wish I could go to school like everybody else sometimes.” The white-haired boy looked so depressed I felt sorry for him. He could be so persuasive.

“All right. You can come.”

“YES!” Jack jumped up and pumped his fist in the air.

“But lay low, okay” I added. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“Sure thing! Thanks Hiccup!” He hugged me, almost causing me to spill my cereal.

_This was a bad idea._

 

The day turned out pretty good, much to my surprise. All he did was trip someone who was trash talking me, much to my delight.

“So, what’s next?”  Jack inquired.

“Art class. I’m modeling today.”

“Too bad, I was hoping to see you paint. Your sketchbook looked awesome!”

We got within earshot of others again, so I had to stop talking. I mean, it must seem pretty weird if you’re talking to yourself all the time. I entered the classroom last and Mr. Harrisson greeted me and told me to take my place at the center. Art class was cool, but modeling was the worst. First of all, I didn’t consider myself to be much of a model. Secondly, it was plain boring. I preferred to be the one painting.

The white-haired teen was just floating around the room, checking people’s paintings. After he’d observed all the works on the walls, he started to look bored. And then he looked at me with that wicked grin….

 _Oh god what’s he up to?_  He floated towards me and hovered right behind me. He whispered in my ear: “I know you can’t reply right now, so I’m going to have a little fun.”  _Oh no… for fuck sake not now._

“I saw some of your work on the walls here. The spiciest I could find was two guys holding hands. Kind of boring compared to that sketchbook, really. I mean, what you drew in  _there_ , ooohh!” He moaned softly in my ear. “There were girls too, sure, but let’s face it. It was mostly guys. I guess you just had more reference for drawing man-parts.” He sniggered. “A few of them were really big, was that based on yourself? I didn’t get a good look yesterday.” Jack purred in my ear. My head must have resembled a buoy. This was too embarrassing, but he wasn’t stopping yet.

“And that elaborate tongue work with the kissing and the blowjobs. It was really good. Did you get that from your own experience?” I rolled my eyes. Astrid and I never got that far. “Oh, stupid me. I forgot about the internet. Can’t wait to see your browser history. I wonder what sort of things I’ll find in there.” Some of the people in my class gave me curious looks. Something started to stir in my pants.

“You seem like the person to save uhm… ‘reference’ material. What will I find there? Perhaps a cute crossdresser or two? Like that emo-dude you drew. The lace was done really well, by the way. Very sexy, with just a perfect bulge.” At that point I was really getting a boner.  _Fuck. Fuckerdyfuck and fuck you Jack!_  He noticed and smirked, moving even closer to my ear.

“All those new sketches looked just like me. You fantasize about me doing such things, Hiccup?” I swallowed noisily. The contour of my hardon must have been visible for everyone in front of me!  _God this is embarrassing make it stop_! His lips brushed my ear, but I forced myself to remain still. “I wouldn’t mind”, Jack whispered.  _Oh god oh god oh god. Stop iiiiiiiit!_ At this point, several people were having a hard time to focus on their painting. One girl was trying to stop herself from laughing out loud.

“I would like to give you a complete picture of me, so you can draw me accurately next time.”  _Think about grandma! Think about grandma!_ “I would put on those sexy lace panties and make you feel things you’ve never felt before. I want to do what you drew me doing and more. I want you.”

Jup. I could not get any harder. Or any redder in my face.  _Fuck my life._  Jack glanced down and smirked, content with the obvious result of his dirty talk.

The bell rang and what little was still left of my dignity was saved. I made sure I was last to leave the room. Once I was out of earshot I gave him the angriest of looks. “That. Was. Not. Funny.”, I hissed.

He looked at me sheepishly. “Not? You seemed to enjoy it.”

“Not in front of my entire art class! Fuck you, Jack!”

He was silent for a while, unable to look me in the eyes. Goddamn was I pissed at him. “I thought you were cute”, he mumbled.

I looked at him stupidly, struggling to pronounce a coherent sentence. “How does this make me cute? You embarrassed me!”

“I’m sorry Hiccup.” He looked at me with sad puppy eyes. I scowled back. “Let me make it up to you.” The snowy teen tried to kiss me, but I refused to kiss back.

“It’ll take more than that to make up for this ass-hole prank, snowflake.” I turned around and headed for my locker.

 

 

Jack kept kind of quiet on the way home. He even let me do my homework in peace.  _He must really be sorry_. When I started drawing, he tried to give me a hug and kiss me on my cheek.

“I told you, that won’t do to make it up with me.”

“Then what? How can I show you I’m sorry? Because I really am, I just thought you were cute like that, all blushy.”

“It wasn’t funny or cute at all.”

“You’re tense, let me massage you.” I was tense, but I didn’t want to give in yet. When his hands started working on my neck and shoulders though, my resistance melted away like snow on a sunny day. That really did feel good. We moved to the comfort of my bed. I lay down on my stomach and Jack straddled me, working on my shoulders and back.

“You’re still not forgiven.” Jack made a sad sound.

“Now keep going ‘cause you’re doing a killer job, snowflake.” He continued relaxing my muscles and was now working on my lower back. I took my shirt off and gave him a quasi-angry scowl. His hands were cold, but not uncomfortable on my bare skin. I could not get more relaxed than I was right then. Suddenly his soft lips brushed my neck, making me shiver involuntarily.

“Is that part of the massage?”, I asked. Jack sniggered.

“Yes”. He kissed me again in my neck and nibbled on my earlobe. I laughed and tried to roll over. He let me so we could kiss properly. After a while he broke away and started kissing his way down, hands caressing my body. When he got to my pants, he looked at me for approval. I lifted my butt and he got the cue. I felt awkward with so little clothing on while he was still fully clothed, so I tugged at his shirt. He threw it off before kissing me again.

“Am I forgiven now?” The white-haired teen inquired as he fondled me.

“You’re getting close.” He teased me a bit more with his hands before his mouth took over. I moaned and groaned softly. I caressed his soft hair as his head went up and down, again and again. God that felt so good... way too good! I came in record time and it was all I could do not to moan like crazy. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and gave me a mischievous grin. “That was quick.” My cheeks became bright red instantly. The winter spirit chuckled and said I looked too cute like that.

“It was just my first time”, I muttered. The wintery boy looked surprised.

“I thought you had a girlfriend?”

“We never did more than kissing and feeling a bit”, I mumbled. Jack just laughed and I kissed him to make him stop. As I did so, I noticed he was just as aroused as I had been a moment ago.

 After I’d returned the favor, we cuddled underneath the blankets. He lasted only a bit longer than me, so I could get back at him for those comments earlier.

As we lay under the warm covers, our bodies pressed against each other, skin touching skin, I felt happy. “I love you”, I said.

“I love you too.” We lay like that silently for a moment, enjoying each other’s presence. “You haven’t told your dad yet, have you?” He must have felt me tense. Jack rolled around to face me and cupped my cheek in his hand.

“I… I just can’t. Not yet.”

“Don’t worry. You can tell him when you’re ready and I’ll be there, all right? It’ll be fine.”

I wondered for a while longer how my dad might take it. It scared me. I was unsure whether I’d ever be able to tell him…

When Jack thought I’d fallen asleep, he slipped out of bed, got dressed, and left. Even though my home was now also  _his_  home, he went out every night. After all, he did not sleep and lying in bed for hours on end just wasn’t his thing.

I couldn’t get my stupid mind to stop thinking about stupid things.  I had arrived at the conclusion that I was, indeed, gay. Probably. I thought. But it was still a very scary thing to tell my dad. Besides, what if I wasn’t really gay after all? Granted, I had what you would call a boyfriend and I knew I felt things I’d never felt before. Was it love I was feeling? Then what did I feel with Astrid? Did that mean nothing? Suffice it to say I was a bit confused.

I hadn’t told Jack about this yet either. I felt too insecure to even talk to my sweet winter spirit and-  Seven icy hells, I was calling him ‘my sweet winter spirit’ and I was in doubt about my feelings.  _What’s wrong with me?!_

Somewhere, pushed to the far ends of my mind, there was also a different kind of doubt. The scariest thought of all. The doubt that Jack wasn’t real after all…


	7. How to Come Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy. Crap.
> 
> I'd completely forgotten this was still not finished on AO3. To anyone who's been wanting to see the end of this, I apologize deeply! I totally forgot about my upload schedule because of stuff. So. Yeah. Here are chapters three chapters at once.
> 
> (This fic is old for me now and I have to physically restrain myself not to start rewriting it cause I don't have time for that >w

What was supposed to be an only mildly awkward dinner suddenly got very uncomfortable when Stoick decided to be extra fatherly and inform on my social status. My relationship status, to be exact.

“So, do you have a girlfriend, Hiccup?” I nearly chocked on my food. I managed a ‘what?’  between coughs. “Well, you know, a girlfriend. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Astrid, how is she?”

“She’s fine, I’m sure. We broke up months ago, remember?”

“Oh yeah.” Stoick remained silent for a while, chewing on some dry steak. “So no other girls you fancy? I mean, I want some grandchildren some day you know!” He laughed his loud thundering laugh. I had never been so uncomfortable before. Jack was out, so I was entirely on my own now, and I was having a hard time suppressing the instinct to make a run for it.

“Maybe I don’t _want_ a girlfriend”, I tried.

“Nonsense, of course you do.” He stuffed another piece of steak in his mouth.

“No dad, I don’t!” I put down my knife and fork. I felt like someone had put several knots in my gut.

“Well you don’t need one right now.” Stoick muttered somewhat shocked. “If you’re not over Astrid yet I can unders-“

“No.” I interrupted him. “You don’t understand. I-“ The words caught in my throat. Why was this so difficult to say? Just a few simple words? Stoick looked at me with a slight frown, obviously waiting for an answer. There was no turning back, but I really did _not_ want to go forward either. Me and my big mouth. “I’m into guys!”

_There. I said it._

“Nonsense. Why would you say that?”

“Because _I am_ , dad.” I just stared down at my plate. I felt like puking.

“No son of mine is a fag.” He said it very matter of factly, like that was just the way of things. I tried to interrupt him and repeat myself, but he ignored me. “You’re just confused after Astrid. It’ll pass, trust me.”

“Dad I-“ He cut me off with a stern look.

“Finish your dinner.” There was a dangerous undertone in his voice. I should have dropped it and continued eating, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t let it go, not anymore. My insecurity and fear were rapidly turning into a kind of anger I’d never felt before.

“Why is it so hard to accept that your son is gay?” I asked defiantly.

Stoick slammed his fist on the table and said: “YOU’RE NOT GAY!”

 “How would you know? You’re not me!” I was on the verge of tears, my voice quivering.

“You’re my son, not some abomination.” His voice was dripping with contempt and held back rage. “You will marry and give me grandchildren. Now stop this nonsense talk and eat your dinner. You’re making me sick.”

That was the last drop.

“HOW COULD YOU?! I’M YOUR OWN GODDAMN SON, WHAT DOES IT MATTER WHO I LOVE?!”

_SLAP_

For a moment I stared at him in disbelief. He looked just as shocked as I was, still processing what had happened. But my cheek really burned. This was no bad dream.

I got up so fast my chair fell over. I bolted from the kitchen and fled to my bedroom, locking the door behind me. Tears streamed down my face. It wasn’t so much the slap that hurt, it was the gut-twisting hatred my father expressed with it. I buried my face in my pillow and screamed. This wasn’t fair. I didn’t ask for any of this. How could he say such things. Didn’t he realize how much it hurt? Calling me an abomination and simply denying who I was… Why had I even told him? I could have known this would happen.

It had been a long time since I’d missed my mother this bad. She would have loved me anyway. She would have kept my dad in check, made him see that I was still his son, not sick or broken. I missed her so, so much.

I don’t know how long I cried, but it was dark when I finally ran out of tears. Jack still hadn’t returned yet. I wished he’d been there. Maybe he could have helped me and made my father understand. No, that was ridiculous. I pushed that thought aside and made up my mind. I couldn’t stay here any longer. I had to go. So I stuffed some clothes in my backpack, left a note for Jack and climbed out of the window.

Thankfully, Fishlegs didn’t mind me staying for the night. I told I had a huge fight with my dad and he made sure with his mom I could stay over. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him what the fight had been about, and he didn’t ask. I wasn’t crying anymore, but I still felt like shit. Just as Fishlegs finished making my bed, Jack knocked on the window. I threw it open and practically dragged him in, hugging him tight. When I felt the safe embrace of my boyfriend, I cried again. For a while we just sat there, my face buried in his soft, blue hoodie. He held me tight, whispered soothing words, telling me it would be all right.

Fishlegs cleared his throat awkwardly. “Why… are you hugging the air?” I hadn’t realized that Fishlegs still couldn’t see Jack! Before I could explain, the white-haired teen threw a snowball right in his face. Fishlegs yelped and was so confused I felt sorry for him. “It’s Jack Frost. The winter spirit.” It only took two more snowballs to make him believe.

I briefly went over the fight I had with Stoick, while Jack held me tight. When I was done, Fishlegs was looking at me with eyes the size of saucers.

“I’m so sorry”, Jack said with watery eyes. “I should have been there!”

“No, it’s not your fault. It was so unexpected.”

“I’m still sorry”, he mumbled as he tenderly kissed my forehead.

To get my mind of things, Fishlegs kept me talking about all the nice things I’d done with Jack. We talked for the longest time and after that we played some games. When we went to bed I felt much better. Almost not gut-punched and abandoned anymore. At least I’d gotten the conformation I’d been looking for. Jack was real. We were real.

But when the lights went out, I lay awake, reliving the confrontation with Stoick in my head. What was said, what could have been said, what should not have been said. It was like someone had recorded it all and was playing the tape on repeat. I felt like shit again. My white-haired boyfriend noticed and tried to comfort me. He was very, very sweet, but little he said seemed to help at that point. I just cried, holding onto him.

Eventually, I must have fallen asleep. 

* * *

 At 5:30, my cellphone woke me up. I groggily made a few grabs for it before I got a hold of it. Still half asleep, I picked up. It was Stoick.

“Where are you?” His voice was annoyed, venomous almost, with a dangerous undertone. I’d never heard him like this before. When I didn’t answer, he repeated his question, louder. “You’re at that boy’s place, aren’t you? At Fishlegs?”

I tried to deny it, but it was useless. He’d already figured it out. The bearded man hung up and I was sure he’d be ringing the doorbell within 10 minutes.

“Was that your dad?”, Jack asked. He didn’t sound or look sleep-drunk at all. It made me wonder whether he even slept at all, something I’d never thought about before. I told him he knew where I was and that he’d probably be here soon. The spirit looked at me with a look of profound worry.

“I’m not going to let him take you”, he promised.

“What are you going to do? Throw a snowball?” That came out way harsher than I meant and I immediately regretted saying it. I clearly saw I’d hurt him, but he went on before I could apologize.

“We gotta go! You’re not going home tonight! He’ll send you off to one of those stupid camps and I won’t let that happen!” His eyes glistered with tears. He’d drown my father in a snowstorm – even if it meant destroying the entire town – before he let him get to me.

“I know a place…” Fishlegs interrupted. “My parents have a cabin up in the mountains, near a small lake. I can show you on the map.” Jack jumped up and told me to grab my stuff as he and Fishlegs took a look at a map. When I wasn’t moving fast enough, Jack started grabbing fists full of clothing and stuffing it in my bag. He threw me my jeans and got my coat for me. Just as my dad rang the doorbell, we flew out of the window.

It was damn cold outside and I thanked whatever god was up there for my jeans. I didn’t want to imagine making this trip in my underwear; I would have frozen to death for sure. Jack wouldn’t let me doze off in his arms, probably afraid of hypothermia. So he kept me talking about all kinds of silly things. Mostly legends, both old and new. Or what I liked to draw best and what the hardest parts were. I didn’t answer those questions truthfully though, because I wasn’t going to tell him that drawing him naked and, you know, having sex, was my favorite subject. Or that the hardest parts were his hands.

I don’t know how long we flew, but by the time we arrived at the cabin by the lake, the sun had risen. Under normal circumstances I would have marveled at the beauty of the sunrise, but I was too cold to care much. I only wanted a warm bed.

Jack got the door open easily enough. Putting some water in the lock and freezing it worked wonders. We – or rather Jack, because my hands were shaking too badly – quickly started a fire so I could warm up again. He didn’t allow me to sleep until I was completely warm again. As soon as he stopped his efforts to keep me awake, I fell fast asleep on his lap.

Fondly, he stroked my brown hair. “I love you.” 

* * *

I woke up somewhere in the afternoon. Jack had gone around the house and found that there was plenty of food in the cupboards. Lucky us.

For most of the day, I just stared out of the window. The lake was pretty, but I wasn’t admiring the view. I was lost in thought, thinking about yesterday again. I couldn’t put the conversation with my father behind me. It hurt so bad, to be treated like that by your own father. My very own father now hated me, just because I like boys instead of girls.

 _What a crappy world to live in_.

Jack couldn’t quite handle all the doom and gloom. At first, he tried to show affection to cheer me up. Even though I hugged back and snuggled up against his soft, blue sweater, I remained sad. And he could feel it. Then, he tickled me. That hadn’t gone too well.

Later, he’d made me hot chocolate. Obviously something he’d never done himself before, because it was disgusting. I drank some of it anyway, to be nice, and at least he didn’t seem to notice I secretly didn’t like it. He was beaming when I gave him a little smile. After a while I couldn’t help but go back to staring at the lake again.

Peace and quiet definitely weren’t for Jack. He floated around the room restlessly, and at some point, he asked me if I would be OK if he went out for a little while. I said yes, so I could think some more gloomy en depressing things. Dad called multiple times. I turned my cellphone off.

 _What if dad is right? What if I DO have a filthy disease?_ I immediately felt stupid for thinking it. Of course I wasn’t sick. I loved Jack, there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. But the doubt remained, gnawing at me. Like all the other things my dad had said. Apparently it hurt him more than it did me, to have a demon for a son. _Yeah, right._

Jack floated in, interrupting my thoughts. “Here”, he said with his goofy look-what-I-did-isn’t-it-awesome smile as he handed me a miniature ice sculpture. It was the same dragon as in my back garden. Typically Jack. He just wouldn’t give up until I smiled again, and smile I did.

“I love it”, I whispered.

“But wait, there is more!” He blew at the dragon… and it started moving! It flew from my hand and started flying through the room. I gaped at it, mesmerized by this little icy creature. “Amazing.” My voice was a mere whisper, as if talking too loud would break the magic. Little drops of water started to fall off it and I quickly opened a window to let it out. I wouldn’t want this cute thing to melt now, did I?

As I watched it fly away over the lake, Jack hugged me from behind. “Finally”, he said. “I get to see a real smile again. I can’t stand seeing you sad.”

“At least you still love me. Unlike my dad.”

“He’ll come around, I’m sure.”

I shook my head. “You don’t know him. He has stubbornness issues.” I sighed.

When Jack started to get up, I held him tight. “Can we just sit like this for a while? It feels… good.” He sat back down and put his chin on my shoulder. Together we watched the sun set.     


	8. How to Save Your Boyfriend

In the middle of the night, I woke up from the all too familiar nightmare. Sleep wouldn’t come anymore and I silently slipped out of bed, trying not to disturb the winter spirit lying next to me. While I tried to be as sneaky as humanly possible for a cripple in an unknown house, I wondered whether guardians even slept or not.  I never asked.

“That nightmare again?”

There was my answer. I mumbled something and continued to make my way downstairs. When he got up to go after me, I shook my head. Even though his touch or even his presence could be comforting, I needed to be alone for a bit.

I watched the sun rise with tired eyes, not really seeing the panorama in front of me. At some point Jack hugged me from behind and we sat together for a while, but he wasn’t the person to just sit and think. He couldn’t stay still for long, so he went outside.  It was his season out there, after all. Snow covered the frozen lake and leafless trees, making the scenery behind the window a winter wonder land.

I heard my dad’s four wheel drive on the driveway, gravel crunching and skittering under his tires.  My heart dropped. I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to go with him. I didn’t want my time with Jack to end.

Before I could form an even halfway decent plan, the door slammed open. The bearded, angry man that was my dad barged in and shouted “HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD!”

I kept furniture between us so he wouldn’t catch me straight away. I tried talking to him, make him understand. But like all my previous attempts, they were met with a wall of disgust, denial and scowls. But it kept Stoick distracted. He hadn’t noticed we’d turned around; the door was to my back now.

I couldn’t get through to him, so I ran. My lungs burned in the cold winter air as I pounded through the snow towards the back of the house. I wasn’t wearing any shoes and my foot had already gone completely numb. I had no idea where I was going, but anything was better than ‘home’.

The path ended at a boathouse by the lake. A dead end. My dad was rapidly closing in on me. I had no choice. Carefully, I placed my foot on the ice, testing it. When it didn’t crack, I took another step.

“Hiccup! Stop!”, Stoick bellowed. But I went on. Slow at first, then faster and faster until I was more or less running across the ice towards the other side of the lake.

_CRACK_

I froze.

Dad was still standing at the edge of the lake, alarmed by my sudden halt. “Don’t move Hiccup!” He called out. “The ice is too weak!”

He was right, damn it. The ice _was_ weak. It was cracking all around me, the ominous sound sending chills down my spine. Carefully, I tried to ease myself down onto my stomach.

_Slowly._

_Almost there. It’ll be fine._

The ice gave way. Freezing water engulfed me, instantly numbing every inch of my body. Panicking, I tried to look for the exit. But I didn’t know what was up or down, left or right, light or dark; it was all so confusing.  My lungs were starting to burn. They screamed for air.

In no-time, my body was too weak to swim; it would hardly move. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to…

Two firm hands gripped me. Suddenly, there was fresh winter air on my face. Before I realized that I’d been flying, I was back on the snowy grass with a scared winter spirit hovering over me. I sucked in a breath, coughed up water, sucked in more air, and coughed again. This repeated itself a couple of times.

“Are you all right?!” He called out. The look on his face was one of pure fear. “Talk to me! Hiccup!” He picked me up and held me in his arms in an attempt to keep me warm, but of course he couldn’t. He was pretty cold himself by default. “Please, Hiccup”, he whispered. “I need you!”

“I’m… fine”, I managed. He rubbed at his eyes with a relieved sob.

“What on earth just happened!?” Stoick was upon us, and he was absolutely baffled.

“Dad… meet my boyfriend. Jack Frost, the winter spirit.” I motioned to a still teary eyed Jack. Stoick’s jaw all but hit the ground.  

“By Thors beard”, he mumbled. Jack just held me protectively, scowling at my dad.

“I guess you believe me now?” I asked with all the sarcasm a tired, hypothermic teen could muster. He didn’t know what to say. When he tried to take me from Jack, the spirit put himself Stoick’s way.

“I-i-i-i-it’s OK J-j-j-j-jack.” I was shaking like crazy. My teeth clattered like a wound-up Halloween toy. My dad then picked me up and carried me inside. Jack got me out of my clothes while Stoick fetched blankets and got the fire started. When I was all snug and just slightly shivering, he finally found the words. He looked me in the eyes and said: “I’m sorry, son”.

At last, he had realized what his words had caused me. The pain. The insecurity.

“I love you, son.”

I started crying. For the first time in ages, he gave me a hug. It was a slightly awkward hug, yes, but well meant.

We stayed until I stopped shivering altogether before we drove back home. Jack sat next to me the whole way. I fell asleep against his shoulder.

* * *

 

I woke up in my own bed. Toothless was lying on my left leg, purring contently. My white-haired guardian was sitting at the end of the bed, playing with a moving ice-bunny. When he saw I was awake, the bunny dissolved and he gave me a big, goofy smile.

“You’re awake!”

“That was… scary.” Jack nodded and lay down next to me. I immediately cuddled up against him and he held me protectively. Disturbed by all the motion, Toothless grumpily relocated to his pillow.

“Yeah, missed you too bud”, I called after the creature.

“So, it’s all over now?”  Jack asked hesitantly. I looked him straight into his cute, beautiful eyes. Yes, it was over, and yes, it was going to be all right. At least my dad knew I wasn’t crazy and the almost-dying thing gave him enough of a scare to accept me for who I was. We never talked about the slap he gave me, but I decided to let it go. I knew him well enough to know he was sorry, but too ashamed to apologize.

To Jack, however, I said: “We’re just getting started.”

Our lips touched tenderly at first… my chapped lips against his cool ones. Then I opened my mouth and kissed him like I meant it. He slipped under the covers with me and my hands were underneath his shirt instantly, caressing his smooth back.

“Did you undress me?” I asked quasi accusingly, as I realized I was only wearing my boxers. They were doing a poor job at hiding my excitement. He just gave me his big mischievous grin and grabbed my ass. 

“Not entirely… yet” And gone was my underwear. Of course I couldn’t stand being the only one naked, and I took off Jack’s clothes in record time. When that was out of the way, we resumed our kissing, caressing and fondling.

“Do you…” I started, but then I hesitated. Jack gave me a quizzical look. “… want to do it?”

“Aren’t we doing ‘it’”, he replied with a naughty grin.

“You know what I mean!”

“Yes, but I want to hear you say it”.

As quiet as I could, with bright red cheeks, I whispered the magic words: “I want you to… make love to me.” The last few words were barely audible, but I convinced Jack it still counted.

Afterwards, we lay in bed, looking at the nearly-full moon. His shoulder was serving as a pillow and he fiddled with my hair.

“I was afraid I had lost you”, he whispered. “When I got my memories back… I learned how it happened that I became, you know, like this. I saved my sister from falling through the ice.”

Realization struck.

“You saw me just like that. Only I’d fallen in.”

“It was like my worst nightmare come true. Why wasn’t I there? I could have protected you.”

“You were there when it mattered. Thanks to you I’m still here. And I love you.” I held his hand in mine, our fingers intertwined. I felt incredibly sorry for scaring Jack like that, even though I knew it wasn’t really my fault.

“I love you to, you silly cripple.” He gave me a peck on my forehead. “But don’t you ever take a swim in a frozen lake ever again.”

"I promise.”


	9. How to Live Happily Ever After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weird spacing? I blame AO3.
> 
> It makes me wonder why fanfics always adopt a white-line type of paragraph seperation instead of 'new line + indented' like normal books.

After my little swim in the lake, I got a fever.  I guess swimming in frozen lakes and almost freezing to death twice isn’t very healthy for you. Never before was I so thankful for Jack’s ever cool hands. Having one of those on my forehead was the best.

My dad was still getting used to both me being gay and me dating a… non-human entity. I could see it in his eyes every time he came to my room to bring me something to eat or drink. He would look at Jack and me – often the spirit would be in my bed, on top of the covers – and have this… look. Then he’d try to smile and say something encouraging and get the hell out again.

I felt kind of proud, actually. I was convinced he was really trying.

Jack assured him he could go to work; he’d stay behind and take care of me.

He was the sweetest nurse you could ever wish for. He also helped me take a shower, which would have been very exciting if I hadn’t been so ill. Before we had a chance to get a bit romantic under the streaming water, I had to hobble for the toilet and throw up my breakfast.

Finally, after a whole week, I could go back to school. I never thought I’d miss it, but it sure beat lying in bed with a fever. Besides, I could finally go to art-class again! I felt a bit anxious at first, but apparently everybody had forgotten about Jack’s little stunt two weeks ago. Or they pretended they’d forgotten. Either way, life continued as usual.

After school, Jack was waiting for me at my locker. He smiled and gave me a discrete hug. I dumped my stuff and right when we turned to leave, a white-haired teen stopped me.

“Hiccup, right?”, he asked. I nodded and he flashed me the happiest smile I’d ever seen. “I’m Tim. But my friends call me nightlight. Don’t ask why”, he blushed a bit. “Can we talk? I have something I need to tell you. Both of you.”

He looked right at Jack. Not through him, or in his general direction. No, he was looking _at_ him. The spirit couldn’t believe what was happening. He jumped up and down excitedly and fired a thousand questions at nightlight, who was dragging us to a quiet spot behind the school.

“All right, all right. Calm down.” He started. “First of all, I can see you, because I used to be a guardian. My friends call me nightlight because I always sleep with one… but in fact that really was my name. I was the first guardian on earth, during the initial battle with Pitch.”

“Wait, where were you last time we fought Pitch?!” Jack asked him accusingly.

Nightlight shook his head. “I was already human then.”

“What? Human?” The winter spirit kept bombarding him with questions. I’d never seen him this excited before and couldn’t help but grin.

“Calm down, Spirit of Mischief. Oh yeah, I’ve seen you around, man. You’re an A-rank prankster.” The green-eyed boy laughed. “Anyway, Lunanoff – that’s Man in Moon – had granted my wish and made me human.”

“Why would he make his first guardian a human?” I asked curiously.

“Because… I was in love. And I still am. I longed for nothing more than to be able to be with her, but I couldn’t stand the inevitable outcome. I was immortal. She was not. Just like you and Hiccup, Jack.” He smiled a sad smile at us.

My blue-eyed spirit sighed and studied his bare feet. “I know”, he mumbled. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with Hiccup. I’d never leave him.” He gave me a reassuring look. It was so sweet, but I knew Nightlight was right. There would come a day that I would die… and Jack would live on.

“I hope you didn’t talk to us just to make us feel miserable”, I snapped, probably a bit too harshly.

“No, of course not!” Nightlight smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, that was quite depressing of me. I came to extend you the same offer, Jack. Sort off, anyway.”

As it turned out, Nightlight still regularly talked to Manny – which made Jack pretty jealous, for Manny answered _him_ only once. The green-eyed boy had seen us the night Jack and I had built our snowman. He realized what was going on, and told Manny about us.

Jack had saved the world from Pitch, so he wasn’t necessarily needed as a guardian any more. However, Manny feared he would someday return, and finding a new guardian was easier said than done. There were surprisingly few spirits with hearts pure enough to fulfill such a role.

Man in Moon saw no way to grant Nightlight’s request and give Jack a normal life. He’d made that mistake once already, by turning Nightlight into a human.

He looked through his grand telescopes and observed a certain brown-haired teen. He saw a great sadness in him, but also joy whenever the spirit was with him. He saw the embarrassed boy during art-class, and the ecstatic expression when Jack made an ice dragon. He saw an anger at his father, and the pain of missing a parent. But through all that, he saw a pureness of heart.

Instead of just turning Jack into a regular human, he came up with a plan. He would allow Jack a human, mortal form to spend the rest of his life with Hiccup, if he chose so. Upon his death, he would once again become a spirit… along with Hiccup.

 “So you’re saying… we get to live a normal life and we _both_ become spirits after our death?!” I couldn’t believe it.

“That’s pretty much it. It was the only way to avoid the inevitable pain that was in your future _and_ keep the world safe from darkness.”

Jack didn’t look very pleased. “I don’t know Hiccup… I can’t say those 300 years was the best time of my life.”

I turned towards him and held his hand. “The last thing I want is for you to outlive me. I don’t think I can do that to you. We won’t be lonely. We’ll have each other!”

“You don’t have to answer right away”, Nightlight said. He handed me one of North’s snow globes. “If you make up your minds and decide to go for it, pay North a visit.”

That night we discussed it some more. I was very excited at first, but as we talked more and more, I also felt a bit anxious. What if our relationship didn’t work out? I mean, we only knew each other less than two months. Making a commitment for practically the rest of our lives – and eternity after that! – was very scary.

In the end, we both decided to think about it a bit more. We could even wait a few years before turning Jack human if we wanted. We had to be really, absolutely sure about this thing. 

* * *

 

Three months later, my birthday was upon us. On the morning that marked my 17th year on this planet, my sweet winter spirit was sitting on my bed. His smile was particularly big and goofy.

“Morning, sleepyhead!”

“G’morning snowflake”, I mumbled, still half asleep. It was a Saturday, after all. I had no intentions of getting up early.

Obviously, Jack did. “Come on, wake up! I have something for you!”

“And of course that can’t wait…” I yawned. Jack poked me in the ribs.

“Nope! Now wake up and open it!” I yelped and, now fully awake, accepted his present. It was a spherical object, wrapped in blue wrapping paper. It looked so tidy I didn’t quite believe Jack had done this himself. A yeti had probably done it for him.

As I peeled away the paper, my present was revealed. It was North’s globe. Lately, it had only been Jack that was opposed to the mortality-and-then-guardians deal. He was afraid to give up 300 years of guardianship, but first and foremost, he didn’t want me to become a lonely spirit like he had been. That he gave me the snow globe now could mean only one thing.

Soon, Jack would be human. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, that time when my chapters were only 1300 words long. How things have changed. 
> 
> Anyway, does anyone still care for a possible alternate (angsty af) ending? I won't take the time to write it if no-one really cares anymore, as it's been so long xD


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